The Mets get shutout at home as Harvey is wild but pitches well

The New York Mets were defeated by the Atlanta Braves by the score of 4-0 on Friday night. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Matt Harvey started for the Mets and was wild but pitched well. The Mets bullpen pitched pretty well and their offense only produced three hits. Paul Maholm pitched great for the Atlanta Braves. The Braves offense only produced four hits.  Harvey pitched six innings giving up two hits and two runs. He walked five and struck out three and suffered his third loss of the season. Ramon Ramirez pitched an inning giving up a walk and striking out two, Josh Edgin pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout and Jon Rauch retired the only batter that he faced. Bobby Parnell pitched an inning and struck out a batter. Maholm won his tenth game of the season. He pitched nine innings giving up three hits and no runs with five strikeouts.
Scott Hairston had a hit, Daniel Murphy had a hit and Rob Johnson had a hit. Johnson and Hairston each hit a double and the Mets were 0-3 with runners in scoring position and they left two men on base.
Michael Bourn walked three times, Jason Heyward had a hit and two RBI and Freddie Freeman had a hit. Dan Uggla had a hit, two RBI and drew two walks and David Ross had a hit and drew a walk. Ross hit a double, Heyward and Uggla each hit a homerun. The Braves were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Maholm committed an error.
The Mets record fell to 54-59 and the Braves record improved to 65-47. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Saturday night and then finish it off on Sunday night.

Yankees win third straight as Garcia is solid again

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 10-4 on Friday night. The game took place at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada. Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees and pitched well. Ichiro Suzuki led the Yankees offense. Ricky Romero pitched well for the Blue Jays and their bullpen didn’t. Kelly Johnson led the Jays offense.  Garcia pitched six innings giving up two runs on five hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out four and he won his sixth game of the season. Boone Logan faced two batters and retired them both, one by a strikeout and Joba Chamberlain pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run. Dave Robertson pitched an inning walking one, Clay Rapada pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a run with a strikeout and Cody Eppley pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one. Romero lost his ninth game of the season pitching seven innings giving up four hits and three runs with two of them being earned. He walked three and struck out two. Steve Delabar pitched an inning giving up four hits and three runs, David Carpenter pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and four runs with a walk and a strikeout. Brad Lincoln pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit.
Derek Jeter had two hits, Nick Swisher had two hits and an RBI and Mark Teixeira had a hit and an RBI. Robinson Cano had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk, Andruw Jones drew a walk and Raul Ibanez had a hit and an RBI. Jayson Nix had a hit, Russell Martin had a hit and drew a walk and was hit by a pitch and Suzuki had two hits and five RBI. McGehee drew a walk, Swisher and Suzuki each hit a double. Teixiera hit a homerun and the Yankees were 4-13 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.
Rajai Davis drew a walk, Colby Rasmus had a hit and Yunel Escobar had a hit. David Cooper had two hits, Johnson had two hits and two RBI and Yan Gomes had a hit. Jeff Mathis had a hit and an RBI and Anthony Gose had a hit. Johnson hit a double and hit a homerun. The Blue Jays were 3-8 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Gose had two stolen bases and Mathis and Gose each committed an error.
The Yankees won their third straight game and first of three in Toronto. The Yankees improved their record to 66-46. The Blue Jays record dropped to 53-59 and they fell to 13 games back of the Yankees for first place in the AL East. The teams will play game two of their three game series on Saturday afternoon. The Yankees maintained their 5 ½ game lead over the second place Baltimore Orioles.

Yankees Thursday postgame notes from Detroit

Here are the Yankees postgame notes from Thursday afternoon after earning a split in Detroit.  The Yankees lost the first two games of the series and then won the last two.  The notes are from the Lohud Yankees blog and also my thoughts mixed in. 

I’m not sure Mark Teixeira has heard the theory that the Yankees big-power, low-batting-average offense will struggle against elite postseason pitching, but he certainly made an argument against it this afternoon. After Teixeira and Eric Chavez homered on back-to-back pitches in the eighth inning — first tying the game, then giving the Yankees the lead — Teixeira admitted that he was trying to go deep in that situation.
“I don’t do it all the time,” he said. “But I know against a guy like (Joaquin) Benoit, he’s not going to give up a lot of hits. So you just try to click him. You try to get a good pitch to hit, and I got a 2-0 pitch to hit. … I can just tell you guys I only hit home runs when I try to hit them, but no. It all depends on the situation. Obviously it’s not every time, but late in the game, when you have a closer out there, somebody that’s really tough to hit, you’ve got one out, chances are you’re not going to get four, five hits in a row. You see me and Eric up there trying to get pitches that we can drive, and we did.”  It isn't usual that guys will say that but the Yankees definitely are a team that does it more.  They are a homerun hitting team and they don't really apologize for it. 
The end result was a win reminiscent of some of those mid-June, early-July games. The Yankees fought today, scratching out a one-run win that split this four-game series and left the team feeling good heading into Toronto. Before these back-to-back wins, the Yankees had lost 12 of 18, with eight of those losses by one run. Today, they proved they can still win a close one now and then.  This could be the kind of game that turns them around and they go on a winning streak now. 
“It feels kind of like we’re running uphill right now,” Chavez said. “Even yesterday, we score 10 runs and they mounted a good comeback. Like I said yesterday, wins are wins. You take them. And that was a good, fought, close game today.”
Home runs are exciting and ejections are memorable, but today’s game was just as much about the Yankees bullpen. Clay Rapada got the win, retiring the only two batters he faced, David Phelps stepped in as the setup man and got through the heart of the order, then Rafael Soriano pitched out of big trouble to close out the ninth. Soriano put runners at the corners with no outs before picking up his 27th save.  The Yankees bullpen has been good all year and when you talk pitching I think you have to include them, they will be very big in the postseason. 
“They’re speed guys (on base),” Chris Stewart said. “So ground balls don’t really do much good in that situation. We’re trying to jam them, and trying to get them to flare a ball up in the air somewhere, and fortunately they did it all three times for us. Soriano made some huge pitches when he needed to.”
Give credit to Phelps as well. The Yankees didn’t want to use Dave Robertson after last night’s game, so Phelps was the eighth-inning guy. He fell behind 3-0 against Miguel Cabrera and still go the out, Prince Fielder’s single was particularly well hit, and Phelps got Austin Jackson out on a 2-0 slider/cutter (whatever you want to call it).  Phelps has been great since being recalled from AAA.  He is proving he can be a player for the Yankees in the future as well as right now. 
“Larry came out and just asked, can you throw a cutter on the outer half?” Phelps said. “I said, Yeah, you know, I can make that pitch. I just went out there and threw it, and I was able to get an out with it. That’s a big situation right there. I was just a little more frustrated that I was getting behind 2-0 with a lot of the guys. But I was just staying on the glove and making pitches when I had to.”
Another nice start by Hiroki Kuroda. He settled for a no decision, but he pitched into the seventh inning and allowed his only runs in that wild fifth inning when Alex Avila homered and Andy Dirks gave the Tigers a lead with his controversial double. “I think the most important thing is for the team to win, and that’s what we did today,” Kuroda said. “No matter what happens out there, my job is to keep the game close, and whatever happens, happens. I’m just glad we got a win.”
By the way, Ibanez laughed when asked whether he would have held Dirks to a single had Welke not made that initial bad call. “I should have given myself more room,” Ibanez said. “I could have made the play anyway if I would have given myself more room.”  That was a crazy play, I think he did hold up because of the umpire but who knows, it turned out to be the right call after all but Girardi definitely didn't like it.  He said he was protesting where the runners were put though not the call. 
Chavez came into this game 3-for-15 in his career against Benoit. “My numbers aren’t very good against him,” Chavez said. “In fact, they’re pretty terrible. I was looking for a heater, and I believe he left a changeup kind of up and away and I just saw it out of his hand.”
Chavez had nine hits this series, including two home runs. He hit .563 during these games in Detroit, but admitted afterward that he won’t be disappointed to take a few days off against lefties this weekend. He knows he needs the break.
Girardi on the decision to use Phelps and Soriano in the eighth, which was clearly discussed before he left the game: “We were possibly going to ask (Soriano) to get us four outs. I didn’t really want to use Robby today with what he did yesterday. If it’s a night game, maybe it’s a little bit different, but you don’t know what he’s going to have. He said he felt all right, but it’s my job to determine with Larry, physically is it risky and we didn’t want to do it. Phelpsie did a good job and so did Sori.”
Girardi said he’s expecting a fine but no suspension for today’s ejection. He did make contact with an umpire, but that seemed to be as much because Bob Davidson bumped into Girardi as anything. As he walked off the field, Girardi gave over-the-top “fair” and “foul” signals, but he said he wasn’t playing to the crowd, simply making his point one last time. “I don’t play to the crowd,” he said. “That’s not my personality. I was still very perturbed. … I’m extremely happy for what our guys accomplished today. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to be perturbed when I get a letter.”
Stewart on the Girardi ejection: “It’s good that he’s sticking up for us, and he wants things to go our way. That’s how it should be. It was good. It fired us up, obviously, to where we got some good swings after that and put the game away. So if he needs to get thrown out of every game in order for us to get a win, he needs to do that.”
Final word goes to Teixeira: “We ran into a really hot team. That team is a very good team over there. A lot like our team, I think. You have a team that has a very deep lineup, has a good bench, has an ace that can shut you down on any night. So I see a lot of similarities to our team and theirs. We just need it to halt their winning streak a little bit.”

The New York Mets avoid being swept as Dickey leads them to a victory over the Miami Marlins

The New York Mets defeated the Miami Marlins by the score of 6-1 on Thursday afternoon. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and pitched great, he pitched a complete game. Andres Torres and Josh Thole led the Mets offense. Josh Johnson started for the Marlins and pitched ok, their bullpen struggled a little bit. Justin Ruggiano led the Marlins offense.  Dickey pitched nine innings giving up one run on five hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out ten and earned his 15^th win of the season. Johnson took his eighth loss of the season and he pitched six innings giving up eight hits and three runs with two walks and four strikeouts. Heath Bell pitched an inning giving up three hits and a run, Chad Gaudin pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs with one of them being earned. He walked one and struck out one and Chris Hatcher pitched to one batter and retired him.
Ruben Tejada had two hits, Mike Baxter had two hits and drew a walk and Daniel Murphy had a hit. David Wright had two hits and an RBI, Ike Davis had a hit and Torres had three hits, three RBI and drew a walk. Thole had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk. Wright and Torres each hit a double, Torres also hit a triple and a homerun, he was a single short of the cycle. The Mets were 4-13 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base. Dickey committed an error and Thole had a passed ball.
Peterson had a hit, Carlos Lee had a hit and Ruggiano had two hits and an RBI. Johnson had a hit, Peterson hit a double and Ruggiano hit a homerun. The Marlins were 0-5 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Lee committed an error.
The Mets record improved to 54-58 and the Marlins record dropped to 51-61. The Mets lost two out of three games in the series. The Mets will take on the Atlanta Braves in a weekend series at home. They will begin the series on Friday night.

The Yankees really to earn a split in Detroit

The New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers by the score of 4-3 on Thursday afternoon. The game took place at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. It was the fourth and final game of the series and the Yankees were able to win to split the four games. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees and pitched ok, the bullpen was good. Eric Chavez and Raul Ibanez led the Yankees offense. Doug Fister started for the Tigers and pitched well, their bullpen blew the lead. Omar Infante and Alex Avila led the Tigers offense.  Kuroda pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up ten hits and three runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out five, Clay Rapada picked up his third win of the season pitching to two batters and retiring them both. He had a strikeout, David Phelps pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and Rafael Soriano picked up a four out save, his 27^th of the season. Soriano pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits. Fister pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and two runs. He walked a batter and struck out four, Octavio Dotel retired both batters he faced and one was on a strikeout and Joaquin Benoit lost his third game of the season pitching an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a walk. Jose Valverde pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout.
Derek Jeter had a hit, Robinson Cano had a hit and Mark Teixeira had a hit and an RBI. Chavez had two hits and an RBI, Curtis Granderson drew a walk and Ibanez had two hits and an RBI. Ichiro Suzuki had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Chris Stewart had two hits. Ibanez, Cano and Stewart each hit a double. Ibanez hit a triple and Chavez and Teixeira each hit a homerun, they were back-to-back. The Yankees were 1-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Jeter was caught stealing.
Andy Dirks had two hits and an RBI, Miguel Cabrera had a hit and Prince Fielder had two hits. Brennan Boesch had a hit, Jhonny Peralta had a hit and Avila had two hits and two RBI. Infante had three hits and Ramon Santiago had a hit. Peralta, Dirks and Avila each hit a double and Avila hit a homerun. The Tigers were 2-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Infante was caught stealing and committed an error.
The Yankees improved their record to 65-46 and the Tigers record fell to 60-52. The Yankees extended their lead in the AL East to six games in the loss column over the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees will begin a three game weekend series in Toronto on Friday night.

The Mets get hammered by the Marlins as Reyes extends his hit streak to 26 games

The New York Mets were defeated by the Miami Marlins by the score of 13-0 on Wednesday night. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Chris Young started for the Mets and was not good, their bullpen pitched pretty well. Nathan Eovaldi started for the Marlins and pitched well but not deep because he was wild. The Marlins bullpen did a very good job. The Mets offense was led by David Wright and the Marlins by Giancarlo Stanton.  Young pitched 4 1/3 innings giving up seven hits and seven runs with three walks and four strikeouts. Young lost his sixth game of the season, Ramon Ramirez pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings with two strikeouts, Jeremy Hefner pitched an inning walking one and Garrett Olson pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up three hits and four runs with a walk. Manny Acosta pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and striking out one, Frank Francisco pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a strikeout and Josh Edgin faced two batters retiring them both and striking out one. Eovaldi won his third game of the season pitching five innings giving up no runs on four hits. He walked six and struck out two, Ryan Webb pitched two innings giving up a hit and Chris Hatcher pitched two perfect innings with a strikeout.
Ruben Tejada had a hit and drew two walks, Wright had two hits and Ike Davis drew a walk. Daniel Murphy drew a walk, Jordany Valdespin had a hit and drew a walk and Andres Torres drew a walk. Josh Thole had a hit, Valdespin hit a double and the Mets were 0-10 with runners in scoring position and left ten men on base. Tejada committed an error.
Bryan Peterson had a hit and three RBI, Justin Ruggiano had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk and Jose Reyes had a hit, RBI and drew a walk. The hit extended his hitting streak to 26 games, Carlos Lee had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk, Stanton had four hits and four RBI and Greg Dobbs had two hits and two RBI. John Buck had a hit and drew two walks and Gorkys Hernandez had a hit. Buck, Stanton, Ruggiano and Dobbs each hit a double. Peterson hit a triple and Reyes and Dobbs each hit a homerun. Stanton hit two homeruns, The Marlins were 4-12 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Ruggiano and Reyes each had a stolen base.
The Marlins took a 3-0 lead in the first on a Reyes solo homerun and Stanton two run homerun. In the fifth Lee hit a two run single and Stanton hit a two run homerun to make it 7-0 Marlins. In the eighth Peterson hit a three run triple and Ruggiano hit an RBI single to make it 11-0. The Marlins would add two more runs in the ninth to make it 13-0 and that was the final score.
The Mets record dropped to 53-58 on the season and the Marlins record improved to 51-60. The two teams will play the third and final game of the series on Thursday afternoon. The Mets will then take on the Atlanta Braves in a three game weekend series at home.

The Yankees win a wild one in Detroit

The New York Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers by the score of 12-8 on Wednesday night. The game took place at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. CC Sabathia started for the Yankees and pitched well, the bullpen was ok and the defense was shaky. Anibel Sanchez started for the Tigers and did not pitch well. Their bullpen couldn’t hold the Yankees down either. Jeff Baker and Brennan Boesch led the Tigers offense. Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson led the Yankees offense.  Sabathia pitched 6 2/3 innings giving up five runs on eight hits, three of the runs were earned. He walked one and struck out seven and won his 12^th game of the season. Dave Robertson pitched an inning giving up five hits and three runs with a strikeout, Boone Logan pitched to one batter and retired him and Rafael Soriano pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts. Sanchez lost his ninth game of the season pitching three innings giving up seven hits and seven runs with two walks and two strikeouts. Duane Below pitched three innings giving up four hits and a run with a walk and Darin Downs pitched an inning giving up a hit. Phil Coke pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a strikeout and Brayan Villarreal pitched an inning giving up three hits and two runs with a walk and a strikeout.
Derek Jeter had two hits, Swisher had two hits, an RBI and drew three walks and Robinson Cano had three hits and an RBI. Mark Teixeira had two hits and two RBI, Eric Chavez had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk and Granderson had three hits and four RBI. Russell Martin had a hit, Ichiro Suzuki had a hit and an RBI, Casey McGehee had a hit and Jayson Nix had a hit. McGehee and Granderson each hit a double and Granderson also hit a homerun. The Yankees were 8-16 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base. The eight hits with runners in scoring position was a season high. The 12 runs was the third time they have done that this season. Cano had a stolen base and Swisher and Suzuki were each picked off. Cano and McGehee each committed an error.
Austin Jackson had a hit, Omar Infante had a hit and an RBI and Miguel Cabrera drew a walk. Prince Fielder had two hits and an RBI, Delmon Young had two hits and Baker had two hits and two RBI. Andy Dirks had a hit and an RBI, Boesch had two hits and two RBI and Gerald Laird had a hit. Alex Avila had a hit and an RBI. Baker and Young each hit a double, Infante hit a homerun. The Tigers were 6-11 with runners in scoring position and they left eight men on base. Below and Downs each had a pickoff.
The Yankees jumped out to a 7-0 lead. They had two runs in the first inning on RBI singles from Chavez and Granderson. In the third Granderson hit a three run homerun to make it 5-0 Yankees. Swisher hit an RBI single and Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth to make it 7-0 Yankees. Boesch hit an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to get the Tigers on the board. Jeff Baker hit a two run single in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 7-3. Suzuki hit an RBI single in the seventh to make it an 8-3 game in favor of the Yankees. In the bottom of the seventh is when it got a little crazy especially for the Yankees. Fielder hit an RBI groundout to make it an 8-4 game. There were two outs and Joe Girardi pulled Sabathia from the game. Robertson came in and gave up four singles in a row before finally getting out of the inning. The Tigers had cut the lead to 8-7, there was some sloppy defense which also contributed to this. Dirks, Boesch and Avila had RBI singles. In the eighth Teixeira had an RBI single and Chavez had an RBI groundout to make it a 10-7 game. Infante hit a solo homerun to make it 10-8 in the eighth. The Yankees added a couple of more runs in the ninth and the final was 12-8 in favor of the Yankees.
The Yankees had lost the first two of this four game series and got the win tonight. The two teams will play the final game of the series on Thursday afternoon. The Yankees record improved to 64-46 and the Tigers record dropped to 60-51. The Yankees remain in first place in the AL East by five games in the loss column over the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees will head to Toronto after the game tomorrow to play a three game weekend series before returning home next week.

The Mets fall as Jose Reyes returns to Citi Field

The New York Mets were defeated by the Miami Marlins by the score of 4-2 on Tuesday night. The game took place at Citi Field in Flushing, New York. Jon Niese started for the Mets and pitched ok, their bullpen was good. Daniel Murphy led the Mets offense. Wade LeBlanc started for the Marlins and pitched well but not deep into the game. The Marlins bullpen did a nice job. John Buck led the Marlins offense.  Niese pitched six innings giving up eight hits and four runs. He walked one and struck out four and suffered his sixth loss of the season. Bobby Parnell pitched a perfect inning striking out one, Manny Acosta pitched a perfect inning striking out two and Jon Rauch pitched an inning giving up a hit. LeBlanc pitched four innings giving up six hits and a run with two walks and four strikeouts. Chad Gaudin pitched an inning giving up three hits and a run with a walk and two strikeouts and Carlos Zambrano won his seventh game of the season. Zambrano pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and striking out one. Mike Dunn pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout, Heath Bell pitched 2/3 of an inning with a strikeout and Steve Cishek pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts.
Ruben Tejada had a hit, Murphy had two hits and an RBI and David Wright had a hit. Scott Hairston drew a walk, Jason Bay had a hit and Ronny Cedeno drew a walk. Ike Davis had a hit, Andres Torres had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk and Josh Thole had a hit and drew a walk. Niese had a hit, Murphy hit a homerun. The Mets were 2-5 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.
Justin Ruggiano had two hits, Jose Reyes had a hit and Carlos Lee had a hit and an RBI. Mike Stanton had an RBI, Austin Kearns had two hits and Green had a hit. Buck had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Buck and Green each hit a double. The Marlins were 2-8 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Ruggiano had a stolen base.
The Marlins scored all four of their runs in the fourth inning. The Marlins took a 4-0 lead on a Lee RBI single, Stanton sacrifice fly and Buck two run double. The Mets scored their only two runs in the fifth inning. Murphy hit a solo homerun and Torres hit an RBI single. The final score would be 4-2 Marlins.
The Mets record fell to 53-57 and the Marlins record improved to 50-60. The two teams will play game two of a three game series on Wednesday night.

The Yankees rally but fall just short in Detroit

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night by the score of 6-5. The game took place at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. Phil Hughes started and wasn’t at his best, he struggled after starting out well. Rick Porcello started for the Tigers and was pretty good. The Yankees offense was led by Eric Chavez and Ichiro Suzuki. Miguel Cabrera led the Tigers offense.  Hughes pitched 4 1/3 innings giving up four runs on eight hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out three and lost his ninth game of the season. Boone Logan pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out one, Cody Eppley pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up three hits and a run with a strikeout and Clay Rapada faced two batters and retired them both. Joba Chamberlain pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits, a run, a walk and he struck out one. Porcello won his ninth game of the season pitching 6 2/3 innings giving up eight hits and three runs. He struck out three and didn’t walk a batter, Brayan Villarreal pitched to one batter and retired him, Octavio Dotel pitched one perfect inning and Jose Valverde saved his 22^nd game of the season. Valverde pitched one inning throwing a ton of pitches and making it very interesting. He gave up three hits and two runs with a walk and a strikeout.
Derek Jeter had a hit, Mark Teixeira had two hits and Chavez had two hits and two RBI. Nick Swisher had three hits, Raul Ibanez drew a walk and Suzuki had two hits and two RBI. Russell Martin had a hit and an RBI, Swisher hit two doubles, Suzuki and Martin each hit a double. Chavez hit a homerun and the Yankees were 3-7 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Swisher had an outfield assist.
Austin Jackson had a hit, Omar Infante had a hit and Cabrera had two hits and three RBI. Brennan Boesch had two hits, Delmon Young had a hit and Jhonny Peralta had a hit and an RBI. Alex Avila had two hits and drew a walk and Andy Dirks had three hits and two RBI. Peralta, Cabrera and Dirks each hit a double and Cabrera hit a homerun. The Tigers were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.
In the fourth Chavez hit a two run homerun giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead. That lead would be short lived as the Tigers would come back in the bottom of the fourth. Cabrera hit a solo homerun and Peralta hit an RBI double to tie the game at two. In the fifth Cabrera hit a two run double to make it 4-2 Tigers. Dirks hit an RBI double in the sixth to make it a 5-2 lead for the Tigers. In the seventh Suzuki hit an RBI double to make it a 5-3 game. The Tigers would score their final run in the eighth on an RBI single by Dirks. The Yankees would rally in the ninth but strand runners at second and third. They got an RBI single from Suzuki and an RBI double from Martin to make it a 6-5 game but Curtis Granderson popped up to end the game.
The Yankees have their trouble in Detroit and they have been on a bad streak for about three weeks now. The Yankees record dropped to 63-46 and the Tigers record improved to 60-50. The Yankees have lost the first two of the four game series. The Yankees have a six game lead in the AL East which could drop to five games by the end of the night. They had a ten game lead not that long ago, they need to start winning some games to get back on track and not make it interesting.

Yankees Monday night postgame notes

Here are the Yankees postgame notes after a loss in Detroit.  The Yankees really don't play well in Detroit and Ivan Nova has now had two really bad starts in a row.  The thinking was that it is possible he and David Phelps could swap spots but Girardi shot that down quickly.  Here are the notes via the Lohud Yankees Blog and my thoughts mixed in. 

Joe Girardi left no wiggle room. In fact, he seemed surprised by the question. In the face of overwhelmingly bad starts, is Girardi fully committed to Ivan Nova’s spot in the rotation?
“I mean, yeah,” Girardi said. “This guy has won a lot of ballgames for us so, yeah.”  I understand what he is saying and everyone goes through slumps but right now this has to be a concern. 
Nova allowed seven runs on 11 hits tonight. In his previous start, he allowed nine runs on 10 hits. Before that, he walked six guys. Nova’s ERA is above 8.00 since the All-Star break, and he’s won once since June 17. He has allowed at least six earned runs four times this year, three of those coming in his past five starts.
“They’re hitting everything,” Nova said. “It’s not one pitch in particular. They’re hitting everything.”
As he paced around the mound tonight, Nova’s confidence looked shaken, and Girardi pulled him after just 68 pitches. Nova, though, said his confidence is the same as ever. He’s just not making pitches.
“His slider didn’t have much bite to it,” Russell Martin said. “Made a couple of mistakes with that pitch. Tried to get the curveball going too, but then it was a little bit inconsistent. You just really have to rely on your fastball. Against a good offensive team, it’s going to be a tough day, and that’s what happened. … I don’t know if confidence, it’s just executing pitches when you need to. When you get ahead of a hitter 0-2, you try and put him away and you leave a breaking ball over the plate where it gets hit. It’s frustrating. I don’t know if it’s a confidence thing more than just a feel thing on the mound.”  I really don't know what the problem could be but Nova looks like a different pitcher.  He doesn't seem to have that same confidence although he says it isn't true. 
Whatever it is, Nova’s going to have to get it figured out on a big league mound, because the Yankees plan to hand him the ball in five days. Martin and Girardi both specifically mentioned Nova’s slider needing improvement — “When he’s been pitching good he’s had that slider, and lately we haven’t had that,” Martin said — but Nova seemed to think the problem was bigger than a single breaking ball.
“I’m not the only pitcher in baseball who is going through a bad time right now,” Nova said. “I know I’m going to get out of this one. … I’m not worried about (losing a spot in the rotation). I’m not worried about ERA or anything like that. I just want to help the team to win games. That’s the most important thing, help the team to win games. I’m not worrying about ERA. The ERA is more like a personal thing. I want to win games, no matter how, just win games for this team.”
 Justin Verlander is really, really good. Of course, we already knew that, but tonight was a reminder. Verlander matched his career-high with 14 strikeouts, and the only Yankees runs were unearned after Verlander’s own error in the fifth. “We’ve faced him before and we scored, (other times) he’s shut us down,” Derek Jeter said. “Lots of times, great pitchers get a little nastier when they have guys on base. They seem to bear down a little bit. He did that today. We scored those two runs, but the other opportunities, he pitched well. There’s a reason why he’s one of the best in the game. He showed that tonight.”
The Yankees weren’t too happy with the strike zone early in the game, but afterward, they didn’t seem particularly worked up about it. “It looked like was a bit generous,” Martin said. “But he was pretty consistent on both sides. Verlander just seemed like he was hitting those spots more than we were.”  I could agree with that but the strike zone was generous, there is nothing you can do though as he was consistant with calling it. 
 Girardi got into a shouting match with home plate umpire Tony Randazzo in the middle of the second inning, and it got a little heated when — according to Girardi — Randazzo stared into the Yankees dugout as if asking for a fight. “I didn’t care for some of the strikes early in the game,” Girardi said. “And we were talking back and forth and he looked at me and stared at me. I don’t get it. When the inning’s over, walk the other way. It’s pretty simple.”
Tony Pena seemed to be keeping Girardi from being tossed from the game, but Girardi said that wasn’t a huge factor in keeping him calm. “I threw Tony off me pretty easy,” Girardi said. “If I want to go, Tony’s not going to hold me back.”
 The Tigers first two runs came on solo homers by Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera. The fourth-inning shot by Cabrera was a monster, estimated at more than 450 feet to center field.
The Yankees got their two runs after Verlander dropped the ball while covering first base on what should have been the final out of the fifth inning. Jeter and Robinson Cano followed with RBI hits, but that was the extent of the scoring.
Jeter had his 43rd multi-hit game. … Cano also had two hits. … Eric Chavez had a terrific game with three hits and a great night in the field. … Martin had the only other Yankees hit. He also reached on an error.
Joba Chamberlain’s second appearance off the disabled list was much better than his first. Chamberlain allowed two hits and struck out one through 1.2 innings. His fastball reached 97 mph on the stadium gun. “Everything just felt a little rushed in the first one,” Chamberlain said. “Today just felt more compact, more fluid and I was able to throw everything for a strike. Obviously there’s still stuff we have to continue to work on but as far as being able to go out and throw any pitch in any count, I felt really good with it.”  Joba looked a lot better, he will build up, he hasn't pitched in 14 months until now so it will take some time.  His velocity was a lot better, I think his breaking stuff just has to get more sharper and that will come with more appearances. 
Last word goes to Nova: “I’m giving up so many runs the last two times, but I still have my confidence up, and I know I can do better than this. I’ve got to work harder than what I’m working, try to make the next one better. … I’m trying to get the pitch, my slider, to what I need it. I’m trying to make pitches, going into the bullpen and thinking like it’s the game, and doing what I’m supposed to do during the game, and then bringing it into the game.”

Nova has another rough start as the Yankees lose to Verlander and the Tigers

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Detroit Tigers on Monday night by the score of 7-2. The game took place at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees and was not good, the Yankees bullpen did a good job. Justin Verlander started for the Tigers and was very good, he matched a career high with 132 pitches and had 14 strikeouts.  Nova pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up 11 hits and seven runs. He walked none and struck out five and lost his sixth game of the season. Joba Chamberlain pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits and no runs. He struck out a batter and David Phelps pitched an inning giving up a walk and striking out one. Verlander won his 12^th game of the season pitching eight innings giving up eight hits and two unearned runs. He walked one and struck out 14. Jose Valverde pitched a perfect inning.
Derek Jeter had two hits and an RBI, Robinson Cano had two hits and an RBI and Raul Ibanez drew a walk. Eric Chavez had three hits and Russell Martin had a hit. Chavez hit a double and the Yankees were 3-14 with runners in scoring position and they left nine men on base. Cano had a stolen base.
Austin Jackson had a hit and an RBI, Andy Dirks had a hit and an RBI and Miguel Cabrera had a hit and an RBI. Prince Fielder had two hits and an RBI, Brandon Boesch had a hit and Delmon Young had two hits and drew a walk. Alex Avila had two hits and an RBI, Jhonny Peralta had two hits and an RBI and Omar Infante had a hit and an RBI. Fielder and Cabrera each hit a homerun. The Tigers were 4-7 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base. Young was caught stealing, Verlander and Cabrera each committed an error.
In the second Fielder hit a solo homerun to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. In the fourth Cabrera hit a solo homerun to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. In the fifth Jeter hit an RBI single and Cano hit an RBI single to tie the game at two. The Tigers would jump back in front in the bottom of the fifth. Infante hit an RBI single, Jackson hit an RBI single and Dirks hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2 Tigers. In the sixth Avila hit an RBI single and Peralta hit an RBI single to make it 7-2 Tigers and that would be the final score.
The Yankees record dropped to 63-45 and the Tigers record improved to 59-50. The two teams will play the second game of four on Tuesday night. The Yankees will then go to Toronto to play a three game series over the weekend.

The Mets lose to the Padres to finish a long trip on a sour note

The New York Mets were defeated by the San Diego Padres by the score of 7-3 on Sunday afternoon. The game took place at Petco Park in San Diego, California. Matt Harvey started for the Mets and had his first rough outing in this third pro game. Ramon Ramirez also struggled out of the bullpen and Ruben Tejada led the Mets offense. Jason Marquis started for the Padres and pitched well and their bullpen pitched really well. Chase Headley, Carlos Quentin and Yonder Alonso lead the Padres offense. 
Harvey lost his second game of the season pitching five innings giving up eight hits and five runs. He walked one and struck out five. Manny Acosta pitched an inning walking one, Ramirez pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up three hits and two runs with a walk and Elvin Ramirez pitched to one batter and got him out. Marquis pitched 6 1/3 innings giving up four hits and three runs with a walk and five strikeouts. Marquis won his seventh game of the season. Dale Thayer pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out one, Luke Gregerson pitched an inning giving up a hit and Huston Street pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts.

Tejada had two hits, Jordany Valdespin had a hit and Ike Davis had a hit. Jason Bay had an RBI, Mike Baxter drew a walk and Ronny Cedeno had a hit and two RBI. Davis and Tejada hit a double and Cedeno hit a homerun. The Mets were 0-2 with runners in scoring position and left two men on base. Acosta committed an error and Johnson had a passed ball.

Alexi Amarista drew a walk, Everth Cabrera had a hit and Headley had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk. Quentin had two hits and two RBI, Alonso had two hits and two RBI and Will Venable had a hit. Cameron Maybin had a hit and drew a walk, John Baker had two hits and Mark Kotsay had a hit and an RBI. Cabrera, Quentin, Maybin, Alonso and Kotsay each hit a double. Venable hit a triple and Headley, Quentin and Alonso each hit a homerun. The Padres were 4-15 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base.

In the first Headley hit a two run homerun to give the Padres a 2-0 lead. Quentin hit an RBI double and Alonso hit a two run homerun in the third inning. It was 5-0 Padres and in the sixth the Mets got a two run homerun from Cedeno. Bay hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh and Quentin hit a solo homerun in the seventh to make it a 6-3 game in favor of the Padres. Kotsay hit an RBI double in the eighth for the last run of the game to make it 7-2.

The Mets lost two out of three in this series and finished their 11 game road trip with a 6-5 record. That wasn’t bad but they were hoping they could of at least taken this series from the Padres. The Mets record dropped to 53-56 and the Padres record improved to 46-64. The Mets will be off on Monday and then begin a series with the Florida Marlins on Tuesday night.

Raul Ibanez leads the Yankees to victory and a series win

The New York Yankees defeated the Seattle Mariners by the score of 6-2 on Sunday afternoon. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees and pitched ok, he just didn’t pitch that deep into the game. The Yankees bullpen pitched well and Raul Ibanez led their offense. Hisashi Iwakuma started for the Mariners and pitched ok but not great. The Mariners bullpen mostly pitched well but Josh Kinney didn’t. Jesus Montero led the Mariners offense. 
Garcia pitched five innings giving up five hits and two runs. He walked four and struck out two and won his fifth game of the season. The win was also the 150^th of his career. Boone Logan pitched two perfect innings, Dave Robertson gave up a walk in one inning and Rafael Soriano pitched a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout. Iwakuma lost his third game of the season pitching five innings and giving up seven hits and four runs with three of them being earned. He walked two and struck out four. Kinney pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and two runs with a walk and a strikeout, Oliver Perez pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and a walk and Shawn Kelley pitched an inning giving up a hit and Lucas Luetge pitched an inning giving up a walk.

Curtis Granderson had a hit and drew a walk, Derek Jeter had two hits and an RBI and Robinson Cano had two hits. Mark Teixeira had a hit, an RBI and drew three walks, Ibanez had two hits and three RBI and Ichiro Suzuki had a hit. Chris Stewart had two hits and drew a walk, Stewart and Suzuki each hit a double. Ibanez hit a homerun and the Yankees were 3-14 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base. Stewart had a stolen base and Swisher had an outfield assist.

Dustin Ackley had a hit, Michael Saunders had a hit and Montero had two hits and two RBI. John Jaso drew two walks, Craig Seager had a hit and drew a walk and Kawasaki drew a walk. Chone Figgins drew a walk, Saunders hit a double and the Mariners were 3-5 with seven left on base. Ackley committed an error and Montero had a passed ball.

In the first Montero had an RBI single to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead. It could have been 2-0 but Swisher threw Montero out at home plate. Teixeira hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first and Granderson reached on a fielding error scoring a run to make it 2-1 Yankees. Jeter hit an RBI single in the fourth inning to make it 3-1. Montero had an RBI single in the fifth to make it 3-2. In the fifth inning Ibanez hit a solo homerun making it 4-2 Yankees. Ibanez hit a two run single in the sixth inning to make it a 6-2 game. That would be the final score.

The Yankees won two out of three in the series. The Yankees completed their nine game homestand with a record of 4-5. The Yankees improved their record to 63-44 and the Mariners record dropped to 51-59. The Yankees will head to Detroit for a four game series and then to Toronto for three games.